keep or sell high mileage es330
 

Hello fellow Lexus owners. I recently purchased a 2005 Lexus es 330 as a temporary commuter. It is a great car. Recently I got a new job that is going to require me to commute over 120 miles a day. The car currently has 148,000 miles on the original motor and trans. These seem to be reliable cars but I'm wondering if it can take that kind of mileage (approximately 30,000 a year). I have done the timing belt and water pump as well as trans fluid change. Still drives like it's new though.

Just wondering what other Lexus owners are experiencing in terms of high mileage reliability.

Cheers!

toyotas can drive a million miles with regular maintenance, and you're doing low-stress highway driving at 120 miles.

Sure, go for it! Any other option is going to cost you more anyway, as in buying another car. If it's paid for, it works, use it!

if maintained, and if the current 148K weren't 'hard miles', no reason the car can't continue on reliably for another 148K.

Well the car is financed, but I got it for $6900 so it's not too bad. The car had one owner and has had all kinds of maintenance work done to it : New struts ball joints all the fluids brakes and tires.

What worries me the most is how long the transmission will last. I worked as a GM tech for ten years and usually any GM car with over 120,000 miles is bad news lol.

Keep it, 150k is nothing. Just breaking in.

^ If its had a ton of $$$ spent on it like you said(timing belt, struts, etc) then it should be good for another 150k miles. Buying anything else at that price is kind of a crapshoot, stick with a known entity.

BTW, not all GM cars throw the transmission out after 100k. I've had a FWD Buick and a RWD Caddy with the original transmission that shifted great, both cars had 200k on them.

I commute 110 miles per day in a 2002 Ford Focus with 172k on it right now. Been a solid car. I am sure your ES will give you zero issues. I would imagine if maintained it will be a 300k+car.

I also have a 2005 ES330 but with 146k miles. I would have no issues driving it 120 miles a day. It's quite comfortable. The only thing I had to replace is the rear driver side rear hub. The bearings were bad, but it was only a $120 fix. Other than that, I love driving it!

Can you afford to have two cars (maybe you do already)? I personally couldn't justify putting 30k miles/year on a newer/lower mileage car just for commuting. So I'd definitely keep the ES330 for that. If you're really worried about getting stuck with a repair, you could always drive the nicer "weekend" car for a day or two while the ES is in the ship.

I guess what I'm saying is that overall, there should be no issues getting 200-300k out of a well-cared-for ES, but older/higher mileage cars--no matter how reliable--will occasionally need service/repairs, so you just need to know what your plans are for those (hopefully rare) circumstances.

Verdict: Keep it and drive it until the wheels fall off.

I just sold mine but it was running great with 125k. I bought it even though I really wanted a 4Runner Pro or a RX350 to save some money. I’m crazy anal with cars so I was looking into painting it, fixing the wheels, changing the dash, replacing one of my headlights, all of the preventative maintenance so like $4-6K to make myself happy even though none of it was really immediately needed. I stopped myself and just got what I really wanted and I don’t regret it. I love cars and to me there more of a toy than an appliance to get me from A-B so it makes sense to me. If you view cars as a necessity to just get your family from point A to B safely and with reliability anybody would be happy with a 150-200k mile Toyota/Lexus.

I don't think making a pre-emptive move makes sense. I think you should see how it goes. If the mileage starts resulting in frequent nagging problems, then it's time to reconsider.

I also believe in driving until the wheels fall off. The problem is, what to do when the wheels won't fall off? That's the case of my 1998 Nissan Maxima, purchased new in March 1998. It has rust having been garaged only from 2003-2006, and had impending emissions issues. So I got a 2006 LS430 to use as a beater. Problem is, I feel it's too nice to be a beater. I can't in good conscience beat on it, I baby it. But with 115k, it's gonna be tough to drive it into the ground. Time, not mileage will be the enemy. At some point in our lives (wife and me) we'll have 6 or 7 cars I bet.....

if you have a bunch of cars that have to be insured, registered, and maintained, at some point it's not a good financial decision even if they're all 'reliable'. perhaps your issue is you can't 'let go' :p

One of the good things about the ES is that it is mechanically similar to the Camry. If you did have major transmission issues, the repair/replacement should be at a reasonable cost unlike BMW, Mercedes, etc.